Surgical package



April 17, 1951 C C, ADAMS 2,549,039

SURGICAL PACKAGE Filed Jan. 4, 1950 u mi iNVENTOR CHPZJ C. /VWJ mdmw ATTORNEY Patented Apr. 17, H1951 SURGICAL PACKAGE Charles C. Adams, New York, N. Y., assigner to Davis & Geek, Inc., Brooklyn, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application January 4, 1950, Serial No. 136,807

4 Claims. l

The present invention relates to a composite package containing sterile articles.

The principal object of the invention is to provide a package which is cheap, readily manufactured, comparatively light in weight and which may be shipped and stored with minimum danger of breakage of its fragile contents.

Another object of the invention is the provision of such a package which will not only maintain the usable contents in a sterile condition but which will reduce the danger of infection to a minimum when the package is opened and the contents used.

In the surgical article art and particularly the surgical suture eld, it is common practice to supply the trade with sutures immersed in a sterilizing liquid such as ethyl alcohol, aqueous formaldehyde, "Zepherin or the like in a sealed transparent tube. Thus when the doctor or surgeon desires to use the suture, he has only to rupture the same and remove the suture which is in a sterile condition and ready for use.

It has been customary in the trade to include a plurality of such tubed sutures in cardboard containers but one of the objections thereto is L.

that the outside of the suture tube is not sterile Which requires' a separate and additional sterilizing operation on the part of the customer.

It has also been customary to enclose a plurality of suture tubes in a tin can containing sufcient sterilizing liquid to completely immerse the tubes. the customer receives tubes completely sterile on the outside. However, the cans areopen to the objection that they are extremely heavy 'which increases the transportation costs and such containers are, expensive.

It has also been proposed to seal a suture into an envelope and enclose the iirst envelope into a second and outer envelope, all in a dry, sterile condition. Thus when the outer envelope is opened, the outside of the inner envelope remains sterile and the danger of contaminating the sterile suture in the inner envelope when the latter is opened is lessened. Such a proposal, while theoretically good is open to the objection that it is impractical to satisfactorily dry heat sterilize either the sutures or the envelopes under those conditions and moreover no satisfactory transparent or translucent material was available which would resist the solvent or deteriorating action of the usual liquid sterilizing mediums or satisfactorily hold such volatile mediums in storage or over long periods of time.

With the advent and commercial availability This package has the advantage that y of thermoplastic resins such as the polyethylenes, trifluorochloroethylene polymers, polyvinyl chloride either alone or copolymerized with vinyl acetate, rubber, latex or the like, all of which are available as heat scalable, transparent or translucent, exible sheets resistant to the usual sterilizing liquids, it now becomes possible to supply the lack in the prior proposal and provide a transparent or translucent, flexible package for tubed sutures which may be readily heat sealed and contain the necessary quantities of the usual sterilizing liquids without fear of leakage or package deterioration.

One of the difficulties encountered in developing such a package is the provision of a satisfactory method of opening the same, particularly where the package consists of a plurality of dry envelopes, in order to make the contents accessible. While it has been proposed to use surgical scissors, sterile or otherwise, to simply cut off the end of the outer package, followed by similarly snipping the end of the inner package, yet this is objectionable in view of the fact that the outside of the outer envelope is unsterile and the repeated operations offer the repeated possibility of carrying contaminations to the usable contents.

All of the above objections are overcome and the stated and other objects accomplished by the present 'invention which contemplates the provision of an inner, open-ended envelope containing one or more suture tubes, the envelope being of considerable greater extent in a length direction than Athe suture tubes, each tube carrying a suture and sterilizing liquid, with a steilizing liquid in the inner envelope, the latter being enclosed in an outer sealed envelope with additional sterilizing liquid and a tear string heat sealed onto the outer envelope so that a cap or section of the outer envelope may be readily removed when the tear string weakens the wall thereof. The invention contemplates that the material of which the envelopes are made shall be of a thermoplastic, heat sealable resin composition as above and substantially transparent or translucent.

The invention is further illustrated in the drawings in which Fig. l is a perspective View of a section of endless tubing material.

Fig, 2 is a similar view showing one end heat sealed.

Fig. 3 is a similar View showing a mandrel inserted and the tear string applied.

Fig. 3a is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view showing the string being applied to the envelope.

Fig. 3b is a similar view showing the string heat pressed against the envelope and partially embedded therein.

Fig. 3c is a similar View showing the strip being applied to the string.

Fig. 3d is a similarview showing the strip heat pressed against the string and envelope to partially embed the string in the strip and heat seal the strip to the envelope.

Fig. 4 is a perspective view showing the method of insertion of the inner envelope.

Fig. 5 is a similar View showing the sterilizing liquid being filled into the outer envelopej Fig. 6 is a similar view showing the sealed composite package.- 1

Fig. 7 shows the removal of the cap from the composite package after removal of the tear string. Y Y v Referring now to thedrawings and the embodiments illustrated, in Fig.y 1 a section of endless tubing is shown vat I of any of the wellknown thermoplastic and heat sealable compositionsV such as above mentioned. One endportion `or" the tube section is collapsed between heating elements to make a heat seal as at 2.- A mandrel 3 having a ilared mouth ll is then inserted into the envelope iV and the tear string applied. This is accomplished as shown in Fig. Baby positioning a tear string 5 as shown. The tear string may be of any suitable material; As shown in Fig. 3b a heating element 6 is then pressure applied to the string 5 to such an extent as to cause the string to be partially embedded in the wall of the en- I.

velope I. This has the effect of producing an area 'l of decreased thickness as shown in Fig. 3b. A strip 8 of the sameor different thermoplastic, heat sealable resin composition of which the envelope I is made is then applied over the string as Yin Fig. 3c and heating element 6 pressure applied thereto so as to bring the strip in substantial contact with the wall of the envelope I vas shown in Fig. 3d and partially embed the string in the strip. The heating element as shown causes the heat sealing of the strip and envelope wall tgether with the string in between. i

In Fig. 4 aninner envelope 9 containing one or vmore suture tubes I0, each of which contains a suture II immersed in a sterilizing liquid I2, is then inserted through the flared mouth 4 `of the mandrel 3 as shown in Fig. 4. The inner envelope 9 is preferably made of the same or different thermoplastic, heat sealable resin composition as above indicated with'the one end sealed as at I4.

The inner, open-ended envelope having been inserted into the outer envelope, 'a' quantity of sterilizing liquid I is then added as shown in Fig. 5, care being taken to see that the liquid is either illled directly into both envelopes or lls theinner envelope and spills over into the'outer one. The mandrel's is then removed and the upper end I6 of the outer envelope sealed between heatingelements in the usual manner. Thus Fig. '6 shows a completed modification with the free ends VYof the tear string available for rupturing the outer envelope.

In use, the tear string is simply pulled off which causes it to tear through the strip 8 thus leaving the outer envelope still sealed though with a weakened portion I of its Wall. Pulling the end of the envelope as shown in Fig. 7 causes a cap I1 to pull oi thus making the inner envelope available. Due to the fact that there is sterilizing liquid between the two envelopes, the inner one is completely sterile. As shown, the open end of the inner envelope extends upwardly beyond the tear string and strip while the suture tubes are completelyV within the open-ended inner envelope. Asa result, if there should be any contamination of the torn edge of the cap Il, bearing in mind that the outside of this cap is unsterile, it could Vnot touch the outside of the suture tubes because arev then ruptured and the sutures removed in the usual sterile manner. Y

Thus the use of an open-ended inner envelope in the present combination serves the function of first protecting thesuturev tubes in a sterile manner from contamination when the cap of the outside envelope is removedfand, second, requiring no independent opening operation thus eliminating any possibility of contamination at that time.

lWhile the invention has been Adescribed with particularV reference to specific embodiments, it is to be understood that it is not to be limited thereto but is to be construed broadly and restricted solely by the scope of the appended v claims.

What is claimed: l. In combination, a sealed suture tube within an inner, open-ended, flexible envelope of a thermoplastic, heat sealable resin composition, an

outer sealed envelope of similar material andY sterilizing liquid in each envelope. v

2. The combination of claim 1 in which4 the in` ner envelope is of a length greater than the suture tube.

i S; The combination of claimV 1 with a strip of thermoplastic, heat sealable resin composition sealed to the outer envelope around its periphery,

v and a tear string betweenthe outer envelope and the strip and partially embedded in each, the ends of the tear string being free. v

4. The combination of claim l with a strip of 1 No references cited. 

1. IN COMBINATION, A SEALED SUTURE TUBE WITHIN AN INNER, OPEN-ENDED, FLEXIBLE ENVELOPE OF A THERMOPLASTIC, HEAT SEALABLE RESIN COMPOSITION, AN OUTER SEALED ENVELOPE OF SIMILAR MATERIAL AND STERILIZING LIQUID IN EACH ENVELOPE. 